Major Swing Changes...need your Help!

[sjwano]

Hello all,

I am a 32 year old, 5'11" 14 handicapper with decent athletic ability and a self taught swing but a lot of inconsistent results. I used to hit a lot of consistent irons (direction and distance) with the old motion, but could not hit a driver straight or very far. I've taken a few lessons recently and am trying to cure a shoulder tilt at the top of my back swing. In prior years, I did not have any elbow hinge and was all tilt, and tended to pick it clean rather than hit a divot. I was able to hit irons fairly long given my height (cheating with a somewhat closed club face), but the driver was always short between 220-240. After working with a pro I've managed to hinge and remove some of the tilt, but not all. He was impressed I could even get the club face back to square given the old action. With the new swing, I have been hitting more pure shots but am much more inconsistent overall. My driver has also increased in average distance (250-260) but gone
are my old low/mid height draw shots, replaced with everything from a mild draw to a dead left pull and a good number of slices mixed in. Recently I have been watching a lot of video of the pros (Trevor Immelman as a base given his similar physical stature) and videoing myself to analyze and as a result, have been working on keeping my left arm much straighter, cocking my wrists (which I didn't do before) and trying to avoid the shoulder tilt. I still have other issues with my setup (too hunched over, inconsistent ball position), grip (too strong), and follow through (too abbreviated) but am starting with the big picture and hopefully will work out these issues down the road. What are your immediate suggestions for help and what areas should I be working on long term?

Thanks in advance.

[lgskywalker37]

Re: Major Swing Changes...need your Help!

Congrats on the 14 hdcp, that is impressuve with that swing, you must have a killer short game.

You are comming over the top and out to in. It looks to me like maybe you read a tip saying to hit down on the ball because it looks to me like you are trying to hit down as hard as you can.

This has you using your shoulder and spinning them and the hips as you come down causing you to come way over the top. I can imagine you hit a ton of pulls (from a square face) or a duck hook (from a closed face) or fades from an open face.

this site http://www.golflagtips.com/ more specifically this one below

http://www.golflagtips.com/drag-the-wet-mop/

After learning this, I think the wet mop drill is a great way to learn lag (pressure points), which is a very important fundemental of golf. It is not a technique, but a fundemental that goes along with posture grip ect.

If you have trouble with a mop you should probly invest in the Pure Ball Striker. It is probly the best and happens to be the cheapest golf training aid out there. It helps you feel your pressure points. throughout the swing. http://pbstriker.com/ You can even build your own with some tin foil or whatever. The product is cheap and Jeff is a great guy and willing to help and the product will last way longer than a home made version so I would just buy it if you want it. I never bought was, I was able to feel this with the mop drill, but there is no shame in buying one if you need it.

The only way to feel this loading of the club or the pressure points is by pulling it with your hips (as you will learn if you try to wet mop drill). The arms are so weak and can only pull 1" or so before they become disconnected and can no longer pull wiht anyforce. But if the hips drag the body around which pulls the arms which drag the club, then the arms can release at that last moment with all that power stored and not disapated. But don't spin your hips around, that is powerless too. Move your hips like a pendulum swing pulling the club arcoss, but to keep you head still while swinging your hips, you need to drop your shoulder and kick out your right knee and extend your let side muscles.

http://mysite.verizon.net/gregjwillis/LESSON1.htm this site (from a member of this site) talks about it too. But you don't hold that angle with you muscles of hands and arm but that angle is helpd by lag and the hips driving, you are trying to extend that cup and that only addsa lag. Just like when you drag the mop you will find you can bend the shaft more and get more force when you try to uncup your hand, that you won't actually uncup them.

If I try for power, my uper body wants to take over, but if you let power happen, if feels like it takes foreever for the club to get to impact, but when it does it has a ton of speed on it. Once you learn the presure points you can really load the shaft, you will find you can even hit as hard as you want from the top and crush the ball, but you first must learn how ot load these points.


And your posture looks pretty good actually.

you are spinning outat 4:01. Look at 6:15 or 6:52 that is what your shoulders do.

5:30 not 5:32

[sjwano]

Re: Major Swing Changes...need your Help!

Thanks, seems to be a lot of good tips on http://www.golflagtips.com...